Various approaches have been taken in the prior art to nondestructively recover projectiles fired from artillery. Some approaches have employed absorbent material into which the projectile is fired. Often times the projectile cannot be recovered using this technique without some damage to the fuzes or guidance fins mounted thereon. Other approaches have employed the use of receiving tubes supplied with compressed air or a liquid to pneumatically or hydraulically decelerate the projectile which is fired therein. Problems have arisen with this approach, however, when applied to decelerating a projectile with rifle engravings on its sides. The principal problem is the inability to form a fluid tight seal when a rifled projectile is fired into the prior art receiving tube. Since the fluid readily escapes past the grooved portion of the engraved rifled pattern on the periphery of the projectile, the projectile cannot be adequately decelerated in a short length of tube. What the prior art requires is a compact means for decelerating rifled projectiles so they may be recovered nondestructively.